Improved knife-cleaner



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

J. H. vAN RIPE-E, OE NEw YOEx, N. Y.

IMPROVED KNIFEAOLEANER.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 42,132, dated March 29, 1864.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J. 11T/AN HIPER, ofv

the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Implement or Device for Cleaning Knives 5 and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specication, in which- Figure l is a perspective View of my invention; Fig. 2, a vertical central section of the same, taken in a plane which passes longitudinall y through the reciprocating rubber-bar.

Similar letters Of reference indicate corresponding parts in the two figures.

This invention consists in the employment or use of a box provided with guides to receive a reciprocating bar to which a rubber is attached, and having a recess at two opposite sides of it to admit of the knife-blade being passed under the rubber at right angles with the reciprocating bar, the box being provided with spurs or checks at the under side, and all arranged as hereinafter set forth, whereby knives may be cleaned with the'greatest faci1 ity and in a perfect manner and without the liability of having the scouring-dust scattered about so as to soil the table ou which it is placed or articles near where the device is used.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct my invention, I will` proceed to describe it.

A represents a box, which I design to have of cast metal, of square or other suitable form, with a guide, a, at two opposite sidesof it to receive a bar, B. These guides a a may be cast with the box A. In the other two sides of the box there are recesses, b-one in each sideto admit of the knife-blade being tted in or passed through the box at right angles with the bar B, and to said bar there is attached a rubber, C, which may be of wood or other suitable material. This rubber has a mortise or hole, c, made horizontally through it to admit of it being fitted on the bar B, and it is secured thereon by a screw, d. The box A is Ofsufflcient dimensions to admit of the rubber C having a requisite degree of play or movement therein, and the bottom e of the box at about its center has a raised surface, f, over which and underneath the rubber C the blade D Ot' the knife is passed while being cleaned or scoured. The under side of the bottom of the box A is provided with spurs g, which penetrate the table or other support on which the box is placed, and prevent the device from slipping or sliding about when it 1s 1n use.

The Operation is as follows: The knife-blade D is passed underneath the rubber C, the handle h of the knife being grasped with one hand, while the bar B is grasped with the other, and the rubber G moved forward and backward over the knife-blade transversely therewith, the blade being shoved along so as to present a fresh surface to the rubber, and cause the latter to act upon the former at all points from one end to the other. Emery, bath-brick, Or other scouring substance, properly moistened, may be used, and this substance is retained or held by the box A, which not only serves to prevent the scouring substance being scattered about, but also serves to keep the upper side of the blade-the side acted upon by the rubber-well supplied with the scouring substance. When one side of theblade is scoured it is turned, and the other side presented to the action of the rubber.

This simple and efficient device may 'be constructed at a very moderate cost. The.

bar B as well as the box A may be of cast metal, and the spurs g maybe cast with the box. The rubber, in consequence of working over the blade at right angles therewith, has a tendency to sharpen the blade or keep its cuttin g-edge in proper order. If aknit'e-blade be drawn longitudinally under a rubber or the rubber be drawn longitudinally over a blade the keen edge of the latter is destroyed. The recesses b should be of such a widthk as to admit of the widest knife-blade being fitted in them.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

An implement Or device for cleaning knives, composed of a box provided at two opposite sides Or points with guides to receive a reciprocating rubberbar, and provided with recesses at its other two sides, or at two Opposite points which are in a plane at right angles or thereabout with the plane Ot' the guides, to admit of the knife-blade being passed under the rubber ot' the reciprocating bar at right angles, or nearly so, with the latter, substantially as set forth.

Witnesses: JAS. H. VAN RIPER.

EGEEET P. WATSON, GEO. W. REED. 

